Taking A Walk On the West Side
by TrudiesMom
Summary: Wait a minute…wait a minute, what's going on with me?" Barba thought to himself as he sat there at his desk. Rafael's "first date" with Katrina left him with positive feelings and vibes. Being with her was like a breath of fresh air. With her he could feel fun, loose, and natural. Now the key was to keep that momentum going? Like the old saying goes, "Never say Never."


TAKING A WALK ON THE WEST SIDE

'Wait a minute…wait a minute, what's going on with me?" Barba thought to himself as he sat there at his desk, taking copious notes, trying to figure out how to avoid the potential of a mistrial in a case due to possible contamination of evidence and witnesses who won't come forward to testify His desire to have a slight grin go across his face a few times that day was altering his otherwise fierce determination in not allowing personal affairs of the heart to affect him.

Not to admit that the date with Katrina was not fun and different….a pleasant change of pace… would be an outright lie, especially to himself. He is attempting to keep this entire thing to himself and not tell anyone, not even those close to him. After all, "other people" in his life have managed to keep things under wraps, why can't he do it too?

He found out a few things more about Katrina Haley that night at dinner. As with any first "date" - if he even dared to call it that - but yea, it was… hell yea, he could call it that. Neither himself nor Katrina made a point of saying it was or wasn't…it was a detail that went unspoken, and why bring it up? Just treat everything very natural, and it will naturally come about. Don't force it, let it go the way it is going right now, and they're having fun. No pressure from either side.

Katrina and Rafael are both only children. They both possessed the same characteristics that only children bear because there is no one in the world out there belonging to them, and conversely, her to them. They have no one to turn to other than themselves for a helping hand. Everything is done on their own. If they wanted it, they had to work for it from their childhood up to the present day. Both of them were creative in their own ways, smart, funny (although they never saw that quality in themselves…other people had to tell them that they were. They themselves would deny it to allow others to affirm it.) Each of them told stories about how they had to fend for themselves in this world. You don't have a sibling paving the way for you to show you how something is done, or to show you where to go, or even how to get the next question answered. If you wanted it done, you had to find the way to have it happen. Katrina and Rafael possessed aspects of their personalities that made them independent, there were also things that made them headstrong and determined. Those qualities could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you used them. Being an only child in the world meant that you had to survive for yourself, make your rent payments, and lastly pay your monthly bills. Her parents were more than generous and always let her know that they would help, all she had to do was ask. Katrina never once said that her parents never offered, because they did and regularly She would make every attempt to do it on her own, without the family name or pedigree to pull her out of messes or issues.

Like Rafael, Katrina was intelligent, sharp, and very "with it." Katrina had attended Vassar and graduated at the top of her class in English Literature. Her original aspirations were to be either a journalist or a teacher of Victorian Literature at a public school in New York City. Katrina had attended school in both realms of educational demographics. From Kindergarten through to Eighth Grade, she was a product of a public school education. For high school, her parents sent her to an upscale, prestigious parochial school. Having experienced both sides of the economic spectrum, Katrina would have chosen to teach at a public school, any day of the week. She loved being with all kinds of people, from different backgrounds, nationalities and cultures. She loved having very normal, down to earth conversations without any pretense attached. Although she was exemplary in her studies which her G.P.A impressively reflected, she shunned graduate school. Katrina wanted to go out into the working world as soon as she could because she knew that she had to prove not only to her parents - but more so to herself she could make it.

Rafael really did like Katrina quite a bit. Her eclectic background and interests made it easy to talk to her about all different things. Being able to speak about literature and theater with confidence, Katrina could also speak a few foreign languages with fluency. Unfortunately, one of them was not Spanish. It was perfect fodder for chiding her about her not pursuing Spanish because she could not trill her R's. She was well traveled, but yet loved the New York City world and all the culture that it had to offer. She enjoyed meeting interesting people, and for that reason, New York kept her heart captive. Rafael asked her whether it ever bothered her that she didn't pursue what her major allowed her to. Katrina shook her head and replied "No, I really like what I am doing, besides I get to meet really cool people, people like you. I truly feel that that you are one of those very cool people in this great big crazy city, Rafael Barba." She stopped talking for a few minutes and just looked across the table at him, and they were both silent for a few moments, trying to formulate what the next topic of conversation would be. When the waiter brought their after dinner Sauvignon Blanc to the table, it broke the silence and Katrina proposed a toast to their new friendship. The wine was a perfect finish to the evening, and it was just about time to call it a night.

In the silence of the awkward moments, Rafael asked if it was okay that he could obtain her cell number versus that of the store. As the question was exiting his mouth, he heard a voice inside his head saying "Now don't get insulted if she says no, or if she cools off a bit, or gives an excuse of some kind…of any kind. Don't let it get to you; Remember that everything happens for a reason. If this isn't the moment, then it just isn't the moment."

Katrina looked down to the pavement at first, and she was a bit taken back, but it was a pause that caused her heart to quicken and her face to blush. She looked back up at Rafael and enthusiastically replied "of course you can, certainly you can." Rafael took out his phone and entered her number in as she gave it to him. Her phone went off in her purse, and hearing it, she said "Okay I hear it ringing inside my purse…I got it, it's in there. You know that can include texting, I mean when you want to, no pressure, okay?"

Before looking out unto the curb to see whether a cab was available, Rafael offered her an invitation. It was not a habitual occurrence for him to acquiesce to a moment of spontaneity. Everything in his life - by virtue of his career choice was planned out, organized, well ordered, and logical. Emotions of the heart did not necessarily follow the rules of logic or order. Okay Barba….go for it.

"I wanted to ask you something. I'm hoping that over the weekend I don't get any phone calls from the squad room with any last minute Class One misdemeanors over something insane and making so sense at all, but there was an exhibit at the Museum of Natural History that I wanted to see, it's not going to be there much longer, but I wanted to see it if I had gotten the chance, and this weekend I have that chance, so did you want to join me for that?" Katrina accepted without any hesitation "I don't have anything going on this weekend, I can check my schedule, but I can't think of anything I have going on, so sure, I would like that. That sounds interesting. Well, I live right in that neighborhood actually; My apartment building is on West 75th on Central Park West. It'll take us about five minutes to walk to there if the weather allows us to do that. I love Summer in NYC, and it's been beautiful lately. I've really been enjoying my nightly walk, especially when the moon is full. The city can be beautiful you know, not what everyone makes it out to be."

A concerned grimace came across Rafael's face. He arraigns perps on a regular basis through working with SVU, and he did not like hearing that Katrina took a walk at night alone. That did not sound safe to him, and he told her so. Shaking her head and giving the customary "spiel" of informing Rafael of how safe the neighborhood was with the neighborhood patrol and people just generally looking out for each other, 'Even the doorman knows my schedule by heart," Not accepting any of her arguments about the matter, "Please be careful, You're very attractive and you happen to have a more youthful appearance than what your driver license says you are; You'd be a viable target for anyone with bad intentions lurking around out there. I work with this daily with SVU detectives who run into victims who say that they never expected things to happen to them. I think you should consider walking with someone… Even in an acceptable, upscale neighborhoods. Giving him the "I'm-a-grown-woman-I-can-take-care-of-myself" speech he interrupted her, by gently taking her by the chin, and making her look at him. "You never know who could be following your moves or watching your schedule. Please be careful. I almost wish that I didn't know that you do that, now I'll be thinking about it and you walking alone at night." His brow was furrowed, and he had a definite, genuine look of concern in his expressive and tender gaze.

Katrina gave no thought to her next move at all. She was so touched that he was concerned about her and expressed himself as such. He could have blown it off that she did that, or cavalierly dismissed it in the conversation. The very idea that he picked up on it, and worried for her safety affected her emotionally. She felt so comfortable with Rafael. She had this strange feeling that perhaps he might have been the angel that was sent down to guard her.

She felt no awkwardness or reservation at all about what she was going to do within the next few seconds.

She leaned in and gave him a tender kiss. He didn't resist her, nor did he pull away with any trepidation. She did not mean for it to be any invitation for anything more….just friendly, soft, and warm. A mutual embrace followed and they held on to each other for a bit longer than what would have been expected for two people just getting to know each other, but it seemed copasetic with both parties, so they each went with the moment.

"Well, I tell you what if I ever want to take one of my evening walks, I can call you and we can walk together. We're only one subway line away, so I might text that one night after the late show is over," she said with a quick raise of her eyebrows in a flirtatious gesture, along with a subtle cajoling grin that slightly resembled that of the classic Mona Lisa visage. Rafael took no time at all to respond to the not-so subtle hint of her desire for company on a balmy NYC summer nights, dense with the anticipation of a smoldering mood of building anticipation and passion. "I just might take you up on that invitation, but you have to learn how to be interrogative with your face. You have to do the one eyebrow raise to intimidate them into doing or saying what you want them to say…Do you think you could do that?"

Getting playful with the entire conjuring of the improvised scene, Katrina inquired, "Wait! Show me, let me see the face you're talking about…."

Rafael had to quell his own weakness of wanting to break down his defenses and laugh. He complied with her request by raising one eyebrow in consternation as he was accustomed to utilizing while facing a hostile witness on the stand.

Katrina loved it when Rafael Barba got all corny and silly; It showed that he could be normal, he could hang loose and have fun. Just short of a whispered tone, she annunciated every word right into his face as they stood forehead to forehead, with their noses almost touching, and their mouths soon to follow suit. "I can't do that with my one eyebrow the way in which you can…I've tried many times, but my face can't do that, only yours can, So sorry big guy!" They both gave a goofy laugh, and he kissed her lightly, softly, and with a gentle but lightly passionate touch, and held it there for a bit. It was too soon to cross any lines, - or to make any assumptions or suppositions about how far to go. It was enough, however, to show that he was interested. He wanted to give a subtle hint of his feelings for her.

She turned to go down the stairs to the subway, looked behind her, and gave Rafael a sweet and sincere wave as he got into his taxi. She thought to herself, "Oh my God, Katrina Haley…what exactly is happening here? You big sappy puppy dog fool, you have feelings for his guy."

Katrina didn't take too much time to think about it – or let the voice inside her head reason with her. Instead she was listening to the voice inside her heart. She was going to take the good times as they came -day by day, moment by moment - and made a vow to enjoy every last one of them.


End file.
